Ice fishing is very popular in many places in the world. To ice fish, a hole must first be drilled in the ice. Ice augers are commonly used to drill and clean such ice holes. When cutting an ice hole, it is desirable to have an ice cutting auger which will cut in a highly efficient manner regardless of the temperature and condition of the ice being cut.
The ice cutting condition changes with the temperature. The lower the temperature, the easier the ice cuts. When the temperature is low, the ice is dry and brittle, whereby the ice chips move up easier and don't have a tendency to pack on the cutter blades. When the temperature goes up and the ice becomes wet, the chips have a tendency to pack in the hole above the blades, which puts pressure on the blades and causes the cutter to feed too fast, making it too difficult if not impossible to turn. Also, the wet ice tends to freeze to the blades thereby increasing the effective thickness thereof making it more difficult to move the blades through the ice previously cut.
Furthermore, in the screwformed design of a cutter, sharpening is difficult in that the cutter blades must be sharpened so that, when boring, the rate of penetration of the blades does not require more turning torque than the operator can reasonably apply to the cutter, and the cutter blades do not become overly clogged. In general, the strength of the operator will determine the rate at which the cutter should penetrate into the ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,777, granted May 5, 1964, discloses one type of ice auger that has adjustable shoes which regulate the penetration of the auger into the ice. The shoes comprise a pair of substantially semicircular plates secured around a pointed blade which serves as the cutting element of the ice auger. The shoes run close to the edge of the hole and scrape away ice chips from the edge. Because of their location around the cutting element, the shoes tend to add resistance to turning, making the auger harder to turn.
A need therefore remains for an ice auger cutter which will cut in a highly efficient manner regardless of the density and temperature of the ice being cut and which may be adjusted to change the rate of penetration of the cutter blades to fit the strength of the individual user. Also, there is a need for such an ice auger cutter which may be easily sharpened.